JoeMap - A journey with Google Maps

Our journey as creators and developers of JoeMap.com

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Continued coverage of the Amazing Race 9...and more Improvements!

Today we're working behind the scenes here at JoeMap to get everything ready for the unleashing of a few new highly cool and very desireable features in the near future! We were written up today at Google Maps Mania for our coverage of the Amazing Race 9 via JoeMap!

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

IE, the Daily Grind, and the Amazing Race 9

Well, we started our day off today with some great work toward improving JoeMap.com, but we've encountered some trouble for Internet Explorer users. We've found that some of our features simply will not work in IE, so we're on it to get everything straightened out!

For those of you that would like to keep enjoying all of JoeMap's features, we recommend using the Mozilla Firefox Browser.

Let it be known and on the record, that we the creators of JoeMap officially hate Internet Explorer for functioning with complete and utter disrespect for our beautiful programming. Firefox, on the other hand, makes us look good!

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Kickin it for the rest of the weekend...

Relaxing, going through the site to do evaluations for new improvements, and getting all ready for a big work push for monday morning! I've been looking around the maps people have made, and its so nice to see that people from all around the world are actually using and enjoying our little creation.

Press Mentions

We were recently written up in the most comprehensive Google Maps blog of all: GoogleMapsMania ...and... JoeMap.com was also covered in a German Google Maps blog: Google Karten!

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Geocoding Heaven

We love geocoding. And we love the value that it has added to JoeMap. We'll be working on bringing the search function to the front page for general use today rather than just for adding points to a map.

Added functionality to the geocoding system to zoom according to the type of search that was performed, a result with an address will zoom almost all the way in, whereas a result of a state (New York for example) will zoom to try and show the proper spot in the browser window.

Added a new custom animated gif so that everyone has something pretty and colorful to look at while uploading photos to JoeMap! Also updated the site with some fresh new graphics and buttons for the add point to map screens.

Friday, February 24, 2006

Zapping Bugs and Geocoding

We have been busy today killing several little bugs. Then late in the evening a surge of experimentation brought about the initial phase of the Geocoding feature of JoeMap (the feature that lets a user search for an address and the program locates it on the map.)

Todays Improvements

Fixed problems with permissions on pics from certain users from a beta problem we had. All pics should now be showing properly. We also fixed a byproduct bug from the new 'clicking point centers map' feature that was stopping a map from centering when a user arrived from a point link.

We've found this blog to be a great system of keeping users informed of the changes happening at JoeMap (Keep making COOL MAPS)

Requested feature to be able to easily continue placing points on a map without it reseting completed. Now a user can rapidly place many points in one location without interferance from the map leaving the current view.

Released some new graphics and buttons throughout the site to keep everything looking and working nicely.

Refreshed the forum style and graphics for a clean, fresh, New look. The goal was to make them easier to use and understand.

Got the beta geocoding function working for adding a point to a map. You can now search with very reliable results inside the US, the results are not as great in other parts of the world yet, but we will be working on that. The US search is powerful you can put in street addresses, zip codes, places (grand canyon) etc. so have fun with the wonderful new option.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Full Steam Ahead

We have been growing very quickly and the Random Spots map is starting to be very very cool. We are spending the day making lots of upgrades to the site. The surge of new users that we have experienced has been wonderful, we hope you all are enjoying the site. We are gonna post a message containing links to all the new cool maps users have already created in just a few hours.

Todays Improvements

We have set the minimum zoom that you need to be at for adding a point to 9 from 4, as there were problems with google maps not showing a 4 zoom level in certain parts of the map. We then went through all current points and fixed any optimum zoom levels for the points.

We added a link to this blog and also a link to a contact form to the front page under the logo. We are now "reachable".

Fixed Mini map to center properly when a point is clicked. The mini map shows up when a point has no pics associated with it yet.

We added some needed features to the top area where the map name is displayed. First, there is a button to take you back to the JoeMap random points map at any time. Second, there is a button that will take you back to the default coordinates and zoom of the map you are currently on (basically refreshes your current map). This was done cuz we found when users zoomed into a point on a map they wanted an easy way to get back out to the original view. Third, there is now a checkbox underneath every map name (top center) that is auto set when you arrive at joemap based on the size of your browser window. Then accordingly the map will either center or stay where it is when you click a spot on the map.